Inspire North Nominated Client Group wins Diversity Project of The Year

Inspire North Nominated Client Group wins Diversity Project of The Year

This year, we nominated a cohort of clients aged 18-50 for Diversity Project of the Year at the Leeds Compassionate City Awards…and we are delighted to announce that they won!

The Leeds Compassionate City Awards celebrates the positive work that individuals, community groups, and organisations do every day to make their local community and city a great place to live, work and visit. Diversity Project of the Year is for a project or organisation which has made an outstanding contribution to equality, diversity, and inclusion and has helped to bring different communities together, highlight inclusion issues and work with groups of individuals to make their voices heard.

The client group was nominated for their initiative to proactively support diversity and inclusion in their peer group and within their community. The individuals have faced personal life and emotional challenges, including experiencing the criminal justice system, but have voluntarily attended group sessions embracing a mix of genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and cultures.

The nominated group have raised awareness around the challenges of inclusivity for themselves and have helped change perceptions in the surrounding community. They have promoted inclusivity, well-being, and mindfulness through fishing courses that help teach new skills, encourage social interaction, and help overcome loneliness.

An important part of the groups’ work is reshaping behaviours and attitudes. A great example of how the group have acknowledged and celebrated religious and cultural diversity is how one participant coproduced an Eid dinner and presented a quiz on diversity and speaking about their Islamic faith to educate their peers.

The group have also been involved in reshaping common perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community. A member of the group said:

 ‘’Being LGBTQ, when you go back into the wider community, it’s a challenge to support yourself, and meet people who you can socialise with, you are fearful and feel isolated.”

They collaborated and led activities alongside PRIDE to inform their peers about the challenges that members of the LGBTQ+ community may face.

We spoke to some of the members from the group who have shared their thoughts ahead of wining the award:

“I find fishing relaxing. It is great for mental health and wellbeing for everyone.”

“Taking part in the diversity groups has taken me out of my comfort zone. If we win this award, it would be great as it will show other agencies that we, as clients and staff, are inclusive, and hopefully, other agencies will support us in growing.”

“We would be delighted to win the award as it will represent all the hard work that everyone has put in.’’

“I think getting this award would be a great opportunity for us to explore new things and it would be great to achieve this award. I am very proud and grateful that my efforts regarding Eid and Pride have been recognised.”

The group continues to work on reshaping behaviours and attitudes to celebrate diversity and inclusion across their community and within the city.